Birthday Wish
by nine-orcids
Summary: It's once again October 10, the day everything went wrong. Minato is at the Kyuubi Festival, and sees a child... an orphan that could be his missing son, Naruto... AU


_I don't own Naruto…T-T_

The villagers were dressed up in yukatas and traditional Japanese attires. There were food stalls, games like catching a fish or hitting a bulls-eye with senbon needles. The soft light the radiated from the lanterns gave a warm, celebratory feeling in the dark and warm evening. The Yondaime Hokage was walking through the crowds, returning greetings, and generally giving the impression that he was enjoying himself. But in reality, that was far from the truth. He hadn't even wanted to come to the Festival. Instead, had wanted to stay at home and be miserable, but it was his duty as Hokage. Today was October 10. Six years ago, what should have been one of the greatest days of his life, had turned into the worst.

The day his son was born, the Kyuubi attacked, his wife died, the Sandaime knocked him out and took his place sealing the beast in his son, the day his son had gone missing. So many things had happened. Six years… His son had been missing that long. Many said he was dead, no trace of him had ever been found. But he still held out hope. Teams no longer went out and searched, but he felt that his boy was alive.

"Minato-sensei, you're out!" he heard a voice call from behind him. Turning, he saw his two surviving students, Rin and Kakashi, holding hands and walking toward him. When they reached him, Rin quietly asked, "How are you holding up?" He flashed her a smile. "I'm doin pretty good, how bout you two?" The twenty-two year old medic returned his smile with one of her own, then looked down and began fingering her light blue kimono. "We're fine. Just worried about you."

The three stood exchanging pleasantries for a few minutes before Minato excused himself. He began walking away from them, his spotless white cloak flowing out behind him. As he walked, he saw some children running around out of the corner of his eye. One of them, a young blonde boy dressed in an old and dirty orange yukata with a blue obi, was chasing after the other children. He was wearing a mask and couldn't see where he was going. He tripped on a stick that was in his path.

The worried Hokage hurried over and bent down. He smiled encouragingly at him and held his hands out to help the slightly whimpering child up. The boy ignored him, got up himself, and dusted off the knees of his robe. The Hokage looked on, feeling slightly crestfallen. He felt a moment were all he felt was cold.

Getting up, he started to turn away, but saw something out of the corner of his eyes. The boy's face. He had lifted his mask up after Minato had turned away, but still hadn't noticed him. The boy's face was a virtual copy of his own, although that of a child. On either side of his face were thin slanting lines, like whiskers, and there were tears in his big, bright blue eyes. A small red mark was on his nose from were he had landed on his face and the mask he wore had driven into it. His breath left him as he watched the child, a look of mixed sorrow and shock crossing his face. He reached out to him as he began to walk away. His son's name formed on his lips. "Naruto…" he breathed after the child. The little boy stopped and started looking around. Minato saw his expression, confusion.

"Nanashi! Were are you?" the Hokage heard someone call. The child, not identified as Nanashi, turned toward the voice and smiled. "Coming Yahiko-san!" he called, running toward the owner of the voice, who was a large man surrounded by children. The blonde adult recognized him as the director of Konoha's orphanage. The man smiled down at the small boy as he approached the group. "And are you having fun Nanashi?" he asked, to which the blonde child answered with an enthusiastic nod. "Yes Yahiko-san," he said, "This is the best birthday I've ever had!"

Minato's shocked expression turned to one of joy. He now had conformation of his theory. This boy had to be his son! There was just to many coincidences! He looked like him, had his son's birthmark, the same birthday… It had to be him! He had found his son, and on the same day he had lost him no less! He started toward the group, but was blocked by a large crowd of people. Over the clatter they made, he was able to make out their retreating forms. A few last sentences made their way back to him.

"So Nanashi, do you know what you want for your birthday yet?" "Yes, Yahiko-san," came the reply, "I want to know who my parents were." When the crowd cleared enough for him to get through, they were gone.

"SENSEI!" he heard. Turning around, he saw his students again. This time, they were accompanied by his old sensei, the Toad Sannin Jiraiya. "Hey Gaki, what's the matter?" Jiraiya asked, when he caught sight of the Hokage's face. "Naruto," the blonde whispered, staring after the long gone boy, "I saw Naruto."

"Are you sure?" came the immediate answer. The toad sannin had looked for his godson almost had hard as he himself had. A smile flashed across his face and he nodded, barely trusting himself to speak. "Yes, I'm sure. My son has been found!"

* * *

The orphanage director looked in shock at the black ops operative. "Let me get this straight. You're saying that the Hokage believes his son is here?" The masked ninja nodded and said, "We would like to do a simple blood test to be 100 % sure, but for the most part, be are quiet certain that the child known as Kazuma Nanashi is really Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto, son of the Hokage and his late wife." The director nodded, happiness flashing through him. He held a special fondness for Nanashi, and a chance at family was what the blonde boy had always dreamed about.

"I'll call him now!" The graying brown haired man called a helper into the room, told him who to summon, then sent her away. Soon, the helper returned followed closely by the young blonde. "Yahiko-san, you wanted to see me?" he asked, not noticing the ANBU. Said ANBU was currently staring at the child in shock, reminded instantly of the Hokage.

"Nanashi, this is ANBU Captain Hound. You're going to go with him to run some tests at the hospital. They think they've found your family," the director told the whiskered child. The boy looked at him, his mouth open and his eyes wide. He gently whispered, nearly to low for the ANBU to hear him, "Are you sure?" When both the ANBU and the director nodded, the shocked expression was replaced with one of joy. "YES!" he yelled, pumping his arms up into the air, "MY BIRTHDAY WISH IS GONNA COME TRUE!"

He quickly allowed the ANBU to gather him in his arms, not caring what happen to him at the moment. He had a chance at finding out who his family was, and being with them. The director watched as the two disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

They reappeared in a lad in the hospital. The silver haired captain gently set him down and signaled to the medic, who was waiting in the room and disappearing again. "Hello Nanashi," the brown haired woman said. "My name is Rin, and I'm gonna be running a simple test on you. After that, we'll take you to your father. Is that OK with you?" At the mention of his father, he perked up and nodded quickly, already ready to meet him.

She smiled at him kindly and held out her hand. "Alright, lets get started, shall we?"

* * *

Minato paced around his office, waiting impatiently for his students to show up. They were running a blood test on Nanashi right now. His sensei was leaning against the wall next to him, while Tsunade sat on the couch. His godmother had turned up early that morning after he had sent a message to her. After finding out that Naruto had disappeared after birth, she had left the village again to help search for him.

The three had been waiting for several hours already. Finally, after what seemed like forever, a knock came on the door. "Come in!" the blonde Hokage called, standing still. Kakashi, dressed as the ANBU captain he was, came in and handed the results of the test they had run to him.

He quickly began reading the packet, searching for the answer that would change his world forever. Finally, he found it and a large smile spread across his face. A smile full of the hope he felt. He handed the papers to Tsunade, who had got up and had her hand out for them.

"According to these results, the blood test was a perfect match. The boy really is Naruto," she said happily, a smile forming on her own face.

There came another knock on the office door, and Rin poked her head through without being invited in. "You guys ready for us yet?" she asked. Minato nodded, and watched as she pushed the door all the way open and walked in, followed by the blonde haired boy, who was holding onto her hand. Minato's expression filled with excitement and love, the same as it had been when he had first saw the child as a newborn. Without realizing what he was doing, he charged forward as soon as he could and swept the six year old into a hug.

**Naruto's POV**

Nanashi looked around him, confused of why they were here. The nice medic lady had said they were going to see his father, but instead they had come to the Hokage's Tower. He didn't think she would lie to him, but he hoped they would go see him soon. He really wanted to meet him.

She knocked on a wooden door and then stuck her head in. "You guys ready for us yet?" he heard her ask. He didn't hear an answer, but she pushed the door open anyway. Inside, he saw the nice masked guy who had taken him to the office, a tall white haired man dressed in green, a shorter blonde haired lady with big boobs, and a man he knew was the Hokage, and they were all looking at him.

The Hokage's expression was really confusing, and before he could decide what was going on or ask the nice medic lady to take him to his father, he charged at him. The next thing he knew, the Yondaime was had him in a hug so tight, he had a hard time breathing. "Naruto," he heard the grown man whisper over and over. He also felt tears falling onto his shoulder "I have you back!" This confused him even more. Who was Naruto? He was Nanashi, even though he thought Naruto was a lot cooler name… Also, why was the Hokage hugging him, crying, and say he had him back? What was going on?

Then he heard something he had always longed to here. "My son," the Hokage said, "I have my son back!" He pulled back from the man's embrace and caught sight of his face for the first time in his life. It looked just like his own.

"Daddy?" he heard himself whisper, tears forming in his own eyes. The man he now knew was his father smiled joyfully at him after he said the word. "Yes Naruto," he whispered, "I'm here." He pulled him into another hug, this one the newly named child returned, putting all the love he could into it. "I'm here," he faintly heard his father whisper again. "And I'm never letting you out of my sight again." He smiled, tears of happiness slowly falling down his face. That was OK with him, after all, for the first time in his life, his birthday wish had come true.


End file.
